The present invention relates to toys and especially to lighter-than-air toys having motorized propellers attached thereto and remotely controlled with a tether line.
In the past, there has been wide use of dirigibles, which are lighter-than-air aircraft, that are filed with lighter-than-air gasses, such as helium. A typical dirigible has a bullet shape with a gondola attached of the bottom with motor driven propellers for controlling the movement of the dirigible. It has also been suggested in the past to fill balloons and other containers with lighter-thangas air. Sometimes these are on tether lines for preventing their loss. Other lighter-than-air toys can be seen in the Goldfarb Patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,488 and in the Winker Patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,233 which Patents show toy blimps tethered from the ground. The Wolfe Patent U.S. Pat. No. 3,292,304 shows a toy spaceship filled with a lighter-than-air gas and having three separate electrically driven propellers for controlling the toy in several directions from a console on the ground. The Propellers are driven by reversible electric motors.
In contrast to these prior patents, the present invention has a blimp shape similar to the prior dirigibles and dirigible looking toys and is remotely controlled, but provides two propellers which, in addition to being forward and reversably driven, can be rotated on the shaft attached to the gondola. The gondola can be removably attached to a lighter-than-air container for a rapid changing of the gondola from one lighter-than-air container to another.